Two joint Postdoctoral Fellowship positions at York University and Brock University, Canada, in modelling and control of emerging infectious diseases
Background
Recent pandemics such as the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), the Zika virus, avian influenza A (H7N9), the novel coronavirus Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV), Ebola and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS-CoV) accentuate the dare need for effective planning and response to minimize the potential for human morbidity and mortality and reduce social and economic disruptions. The goal of this project is to enhance Canada's capacities in observing and forecasting the transmission and spread of a novel pathogen and reacting quickly and flexibly to the changing scenarios in line with the phase of an outbreak.
Job description
We are seeking 2 Post-Doctoral Fellows to (i) model the spread of emerging infectious diseases with a focus on the social dynamics, including adherence to pharmaceuticals/non pharmaceutical intervention policies; and (ii) design control protocols that drive the population to a desired state.
The Post Doctoral Fellows will be jointly supervised by Professor. Jude Dzevela Kong, York University and Professor Pouria Ramazi, Brock University.
Interested candidates should send an email to Professor Jude Dzevela Kong (jdkong@yorku.ca) and Professor Pouria Ramazi (pramazi@brocku.ca) with the subject “Joint postdoc in infectious diseases modeling” and attach their CV, statement of interest and contact details of two referees that will be contacted directly after the interviews. The positions will remain open till they are filled with contracts starting as soon as possible.
Salary
The salary is approximately $45,000 per year. The salary could be complemented by other funds including those from external sources awarded to the applicants as well as funds from teaching a course (~$9000 a course).
Person specification
The candidate should hold a PhD in one of the following areas: Systems and Control, Mathematics, Statistics, Computer Science, Ecology or a similarly quantitative discipline. The candidate should have experience with compartmental infectious disease models, such as the classical susceptible infectious recovered (SIR) model, and be familiar with evolutionary game theory and decision-making models. The ideal candidate should also be comfortable with collecting and analyzing data and have a good knowledge of either MATLAB, R, or python programming languages.
